Plot summary
Alvin and Arthur stay at a boarding house in which mixed-blood children are cared for by Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel. There, Alvin uses his knack to cleanse the mosquitoes and disease from a well. A young woman, whom the people call Dead Mary, sees what he has done and asks him to come with her and heal her mother, who has yellow fever. Because Alvin heals her, yellow fever spreads throughout Nueva Barcelona (Louisiana) and averts an impending war with the United States over slavery. As the fever spreads, people begin to suspect Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel because Alvin has been healing everyone he can, which radiates outward through the city. Alvin is then approached by La Tia, an African woman, who wants him to help all the slaves and the displaced French to escape Nueva Barcelona. Alvin reluctantly agrees.
Alvin's brother, Calvin, at the behest of Alvin's wife, Margaret, comes to help. Calvin raises a thick fog, and Alvin uses his blood by magic that he learned from the Red Prophet Tenskwa-Tawa to construct a crystal bridge across Lake Ponchartrain to the north. Arthur helps Alvin with the bridge. While the escapees flee north, they take food and provision from plantations along the way and free any slaves they find. Alvin goes to Tenskwa-Tawa on the other side of the Mizzippy to ask for safe passage through the Red Man's lands so that they can escape the pursuing army. Alvin and Tenskwa-Tawa put on a show by holding back the Mizzippy River to allow the exodus of people from Nueva Barcelona to cross, and the pursuing army can do nothing but watch. Calvin leaves with Jim Bowie and Steve Austin to conquer the Mexica. Verily Cooper is sent by Margaret to seek out Abe Lincoln and get his help to figure out what to do with all the runaways when they reach the Noisy River Territory.
Alvin discovers that Tenskwa-Tawa has been collaborating with La Tia to create a volcanic eruption under the Mexica, who are becoming increasingly threatening. Alvin sends Arthur to initiate the eruption and warn his brother, Calvin, who ignores the warning but still manages to escape. Bowie and several others leave with Arthur. The people travel through the Indian lands using the greensong, which allows them to move more quickly. When they reach the Noisy River territory, Lincoln and Cooper have decided to create a new county so that they can appoint their own judges, who will resist the law to return slaves to their masters. There, Alvin starts to build the crystal city that he saw in a vision. He realizes that not everyone has to have maker skills, but people can contribute in their own way by felling trees, digging the foundation, etc. However, all is not well. Calvin and Bowie arrive and decide to stay.
Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs that were created by enslaved Africans in the Southern United States from various traditional African spiritualities, Christianity and elements of indigenous botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure man or conjure woman, root doctors, Hoodoo doctors, and swampers. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include conjure or rootwork. As a syncretic spiritual system, it also incorporates Islam brought over by enslaved West African Muslims and Spiritualism.
Mike Fink, called "king of the keelboaters", was a semi-legendary brawler and river boatman who exemplified the tough and hard-drinking men who ran keelboats up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of six alternate history fantasy novels written by American novelist Orson Scott Card, published from 1987 to 2003, with one more planned. They explore the experiences of a young man, Alvin Miller, who realizes he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him.
Seventh Son (1987) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the first book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Seventh Son won a Locus Award and was nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards in 1988. Seventh sons have strong "knacks", and seventh sons of seventh sons are both extraordinarily rare and powerful. In fact, young Alvin appears to be the only one in the world. His abilities make him the target of the Unmaker, who recognizes Alvin's powers as those of a Maker, only the second ever, and it had been a long time since the first had walked on water and turned water to wine. The Unmaker works largely by water and tries to kill Alvin in his early years before he can master his abilities.
Eye for Eye (1987) is a science fiction novella by Orson Scott Card.
They Live by Night is a 1948 American film noir directed by Nicholas Ray, in his directorial debut, and starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. Based on Edward Anderson's Depression-era novel Thieves Like Us, the film follows a young convict on the run who falls in love with a woman and attempts to begin a life with her.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an 1845 memoir and treatise on abolition written by African-American orator and former slave Frederick Douglass during his time in Lynn, Massachusetts. It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States.
Red Prophet (1988) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the second book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Red Prophet won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1989, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1988, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1989.
Prentice Alvin (1989) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the third book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Prentice Alvin won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1990, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1989, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1990.
Song of Freedom is a 1936 British musical drama film directed by J. Elder Wills and starring Paul Robeson. It is an early feature produced by Hammer Film Productions.
Alvin Journeyman (1995) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the fourth book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Alvin Journeyman won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1996.
Ender in Exile is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, part of the Ender's Game series, published on November 11, 2008. It takes place between the two award-winning novels Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. It could also be considered a parallel novel to the first three sequels in the Shadow Saga, since the entirety of this trilogy takes place in the span of Ender in Exile. The novel concludes a dangling story line of the Shadow Saga, while it makes several references to events that take place during the Shadow Saga. From yet another perspective, the novel expands the last chapter of the original novel Ender's Game. On the one hand, it fills the gap right before the last chapter, and on the other hand, it fills the gap between the last chapter and the original (first) sequel. Ender in Exile begins one year after Ender has won the bugger war, and begins with the short story "Ender's Homecoming" from Card's webzine Intergalactic Medicine Show. Other short stories that were published elsewhere are included as chapters of the novel.
A manbo is a priestess in the Haitian Vodou religion. Haitian Vodou's conceptions of priesthood stem from the religious traditions of enslaved people from Dahomey, in what is today Benin. For instance, the term manbo derives from the Fon word nanbo. Like their West African counterparts, Haitian manbos are female leaders in Vodou temples who perform healing work and guide others during complex rituals. This form of female leadership is prevalent in urban centers such as Port-au-Prince. Typically, there is no hierarchy among manbos and oungans. These priestesses and priests serve as the heads of autonomous religious groups and exert their authority over the devotees or spiritual servants in their hounfo (temples).
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is a 1985 animated space opera film directed and produced by Steven Hahn, and written by Jeffrey Scott. It was originally released in 3D by Atlantic Releasing. Starchaser: The Legend of Orin was one of the first animated movies to mix traditional and computer animation, as well as one of the first to be released in 3D.
Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Gayl Carolyn Jones is an American writer from Lexington, Kentucky. She is recognized as a key figure in 20th-century African-American literature.
Wild Seed is a science fiction novel by American writer Octavia Butler. Although published in 1980 as the fourth book of the Patternist series, it is the earliest book in the chronology of the Patternist world. The other books in the series are, in order within the Patternist chronology: Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay's Ark (1984), Survivor (1978), and Patternmaster (1976).
The Lost Gate is a fantasy novel by Orson Scott Card. It is the first novel in the Mither Mages trilogy. The second novel is The Gate Thief and the third one is Gatefather.
Wyrms (1987) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. The story examines desire, wisdom, and human will. Card describes a version of the tri-partite soul, similar to that articulated by Plato in The Republic.
Patternmaster (1976) is a science fiction novel by American author Octavia E. Butler. Patternmaster, the first book to be published but the last in the series' internal chronology, depicts a distant future where the human race has been sharply divided into the dominant Patternists, their enemies the "diseased" and animalistic Clayarks, and the enslaved human mutes. The Patternists, bred for intelligence and psychic abilities, are networked telepaths. They are ruled by the most powerful telepath, known as the Patternmaster. Patternmaster tells the coming-of-age story of Teray, a young Patternist who learns he is a son of the Patternmaster. Teray fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.
